Virtus Arete
by SAga4000
Summary: Set in a world where Shin-Ra continued on under the rule of Rufus Shin-Ra for twenty years; where a certain SOLDIER managed to survive his fate and abandon his sword to live a simple life, where a young orphan travels the world to find his purpose in life, where Where a young flower girl choose love over everything she's known, and where a certain First Lady forges her own path.
1. Introduction: How Virtus got its name?

**0====================================Introduction=================================0**

For my previous readers who have stuck through the first rendition of the fanfic Virtus, I give you all my utter gratitude for your reviews that gave me the encouragement to keep the story going, and of course to my boyfriend and beta-reader TaintedWisdom2014 who was and is still my main source of encouragement during this new rendition of the story.

As for the title of the story, it was taken from the Latin word _Virtus_. Which does have some historical importance during the Roman Period as having _Virtus_ was an essential part of being a Roman man, especially if you wanted to get into politics, and after doing a bit more research. This word—or title was only given to a selected few. However it should also be taken to consideration that the meaning of _Virtus_ was changed during the time of the Roman Period and as the centuries passed was used to categorize the actions and good characters of Roman men and warriors; for the sake of the story the first half of the title will reflect on the old meaning of the word and its usage.

Now for the second half of the title _Arete_ although has the same concept of _virtue_ it delves into strive that people take to reach that high of virtue. Or in its basic sense: _'Excellence in any kind.'_

Expect a lot of characters arcs, plenty of tragedies and changes of point of views during the fanfic.

With that said, all Canon Characters, with the exception of any Original Characters, are all properties of Square Enix. Any future use of Canon Characters will be used solely for entertainment purposes only.

Thank you for reading _Virtus Arete,_ and I hope you new and old readers will enjoy the rewrite!

 _ **~SAga4000**_


	2. Prologue

**Author's Note: Well I really hoped that I didn't have to put up an author's note just to sort out the formatting, but I'm sorry you guys it seems like I do. As you all seen before, I actually took out the title pages due to formatting issues and that had made it even worst, and I'd also hoped to fix up each of the chapters asap as well but was unable to due to my real life stuff getting in the + I needed a break from the whole messed up formatting issue.**

 **Anyway, for those of who are sick of the whole A/N in chapters. I'm really, really sorry, but there's not much I can do about this. So please bear with it, and I hope it won't deter you from reading too much.**

 **Once again I apologize for the constant changes, but I'm doing the best I can to make the fanfic look as presentable as possible.**

 **~SAga4000**

* * *

 **0=====================================Prologue======================================0**

 _Aerith wait for me._

Those words echoed through the wind, from the very core of The Planet's energy, blowing from the forests where the words were uttered to an abandoned church; where a certain flower girl with braided brown hair, emerald green eyes knelt, tending to the very flowers she grew.

Her bangles dangled on her wrists, and her pink-buttoned dress rustled as her body leaned forward, carefully picking the flowers by the stem, before the rain started to pour down from the broken rooftop.

A familiar sense slowly over came her; it was another life returning to The Planet. She clasped her hands together in prayer for the unknown dying soul, just as she had always done to help ease their transition. Then something happened, she heard his voice echoing in the wind. With a quick gasp she quickly turned her head toward the broken roof and formed an empathetic connection with the one man she'd thought she would never hear from again.

He was still alive?

 _He was still alive._

She couldn't believe it, part of her felt relieved to know that he was still out there, but now he was leaving again. 'He's not going to be gone forever.' She told herself. All living things would have to die at some point that was the way of the world. Aerith carefully picked the rest of the flowers she needed, placed them in her basket, carefully got out of her flowerbed, and stepped into the edge of the broken floorboards just a few inches above it.

With her eyes closed, a soft sigh escaped her lips as she took one step, two steps, three steps and so on and so forth till she made her way out of the church. There, she lost all connection to The Planet. The lack of knowing scared her, especially in this circumstance, especially when it came to him.

His wind blown whispers, his words made it more than clear that he was trying to come back to her and that he never wanted to leave her.

She stopped in her tracks as the question, 'But why didn't he ever write back?' Echoed through her head before turned and looked up toward the plate just above the church. Her emerald eyes slowly closed, as if she was coming to terms with the inevitable. Though, she prayed with all her heart that he would live, that The Planet let him live.

 **Let him live.**

0========================================================0

 _Virtus Arete_

0========================================================0

A boyish hand touched the surface of the church's stone doorframe as he carefully stepped inside admiring both the church's architecture and the cobwebs that hung on the corners and the bottom edges of the wooden benches. The eight or nine year old boy, dressed in a simple gray shirt with mismatch sleeves, a pair of brown cargo trousers with lots of pockets and a silver wrist band on his left hand.

He looked up at the broken rooftop and saw the light shining through from above. His green eyes slowly trailed toward the spot where the light shone the brightest, where a sprout stood. With an excited gasp, the boy quickly ran to the spot. The old chipped worn out floorboards **_creaked_** loudly from the weight of his feet and broke free from its panels due to the years of neglect.

The Lone boy made a short leap from the broken floorboards, causing dust to cover his secondhand black and white sneakers, and landed to the bottom of the old, dried flowerbed. And what a miracle, the little seed he had planted here a week ago was finally starting to bloom and begin its life.

Soon the light was blocked by a shadow from the sky. The boy looked up and saw multiple airships in the sky. That was the first time he'd ever seen them before, in fact this was the moment he'd believed the story his sister and guardian, told him of machines. Searchlights beamed on the airships as the rays moved forwards, backwards and side to side.

The Lone boy reacted quickly, dove to one of the benches and managed to hide right under the seat. He was scared— _no_ he was more than scared. He was terrified beyond belief.

Most of all he wanted to be _home_ , he wanted to return to see his townspeople's smiling faces whenever he'd run by as an innocent six-year-old boy, dressed in a white shirt and blue overalls. He still could remember the sound of mud squishing beneath the red rubbery boots he'd wear underneath the overalls. Then he could _feel_ his father's strong grip as he lifted him onto his shoulders, and how he felt like a giant when his father let him sit on his shoulders. He also remembered blocking the sunlight with his tiny hands as the glare blinded him.

The sounds of explosions came from above, **_BOOM, BOOM, BOOM,_** and brough him back from memory lane to deal with the present. The church's whole foundation shook making it rain dust and bits of debris.

More explosions came and the boy darted out, ready to leave the church when he suddenly remembered the sprout and quickly turned back to the flowerbed and dug his fingers through the soil, he lifted the sprout and as much earth he could carry before he turned and made a dash toward the door, clinging the patch of dirt and sprout close to him as he continued one running down the familiar shortcuts and pathways that would keep him out of sight.

A small smile came to his lips as he thought of his accomplishment today.

He helped create a new life, and new life would breed hope and dreams. A smile came to his lips as his mother and father's words echoed:

 _All life mattered, so no one is more important than the other. Keep that in your heart, and you'll be a hero._

And that's what he wanted to be.


	3. Chapter I

**Author's Note: Well I really hoped that I didn't have to put up an author's note just to sort out the formatting, but I'm sorry you guys it seems like I do. As you all seen before, I actually took out the title pages due to formatting issues and that had made it even worst, and I'd also hoped to fix up each of the chapters asap as well but was unable to due to my real life stuff getting in the + I needed a break from the whole messed up formatting issue.**

 **Anyway, for those of who are sick of the whole A/N in chapters. I'm really, really sorry, but there's not much I can do about this. So please bear with it, and I hope it won't deter you from reading too much.**

 **Once again I apologize for the constant changes, but I'm doing the best I can to make the fanfic look as presentable as possible.**

 **~SAga4000**

* * *

 **0===============================Chapter I================================0**

 _Happy birthday to you,_

 _Happy birthday to you,_

 _Happy birthday…_

The sounds of the feminine hums came to a stop as the middle-aged woman with the wavy honey brown and blue eyes looked down at the sleeping brown haired boy on the simple wooden framed bed, having just pulled the covers over his head. The woman started humming again, while whispering the lyrics as well, and the birthday boy let out another tired groan before pulling the pillow over his head.

"Mom, it's the middle of the night…" Came his muffled reply. His mother could only chuckle and then joked, "Oh is it? I had no idea." Her smile brightened as she continued on while sitting on the edge of her son's bed, "I seem to remember giving birth to a certain someone in the middle of the night, some twelve years—"

His muffled groans of annoyance echoed through the pillow and the blanket as he muttered, _"MOOOOOOMMMMM…"_

Suddenly the door to his bedroom burst opened and two more people appeared; an older man with graying brown hair and light brown eyes, wearing a long sleeved buttoned shirt, a tie, brown trousers and their house slippers, and standing next to the man was a young man, around the age of the eighteen, with brown chin length hair and blue eyes, wearing a singlet and a pair of long gray sweatpants as his pajamas.

"Sorry mom, could you step aside please?" Said the young man before he reached over for the blanket, and with one powerful tug managed to pull it off the bed. His younger brother flinched under his light blue pajamas, his bear toes curled up in response and with his head still beneath his pillow another groan escaped his lips. Finally he relented to the family tradition and reluctantly lifted the pillow from his head.

His emerald green eyes glared at all three of them as they all stood there with innocent smiles on their faces. His mother looked exceptionally amused as she stood there with her three-quarter length white shirt and mid-length brown skirt. But seeing the smiles on their faces washed away any real annoyance that came up inside him. To put it shortly he was glaring for show now, finally he took a deep breath and got out of bed.

The birthday boy followed his family down to the first floor and into the dark adjoined living, dining room and kitchen, where with the moonlight shining through the lace curtain he spotted a single muffin with a small-unlit candle stood in the middle of the polished wood dining table. That brought a genuine smile to his face, till he felt his brother's hand pressing against the top of his head and rubbing against his brown hair.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" The birthday boy screamed as he tried whacking his brother's hand off, but it was stuck in place. Their mother scolded him lightly, telling his brother to leave him alone, while their father pulled out a match from his pocket and lit the candle. He then called his soon to be twelve year old son over to sit down at the head of the table. His father shook the match to put the fire out and sat down to his youngest son's left while his wife sat to his right. Their eldest walked over and sat beside their mother at their two by three foot long dining table.

"Make a wish." His mother told him with an endearing smile. The birthday boy nodded, took a deep breath and held it for a second before he blew the candle out. Everything went dark for a few minutes before the moonlight shone through the windows again. His parents clapped and so did his brother, lazily; and the small annual ceremony was over.

 _'Just you wait till next year.'_ The birthday boy thought as he stared at his older brother with a mischievous look on his face.

"Here," His mother spoke out, holding a small square shaped present wrapped in pastel green wrapping paper with a silver bow. He reached out, took the tiny gift and stared as it fit the palm of his hand.

His mother said to him, "You can open just _one_ for tonight. All right?" He nodded, carefully pulled the ribbon and ripped open his present. He screamed when strings and confetti exploded right in front of him. He fell back on his seat and landed on the floor.

 _ **THUD!**_

0========================================================0

 _| Virtus Arete |_

0========================================================0

Aerith plopped herself on her bed, still dressed in her day clothes, having just arrived home at one o'clock in the morning with an empty flower basket and decent amount of gil and groaned, knowing she would have to face her worried mother Elmyra to explain her late return.

She let out a soft sigh as she stared up the ceiling, before she sat on the edge of her bed and clasped her hands together. She needed to concentrate; she needed to make sure that _he_ was still alive. Aerith listened for The Planet's voice within the wind. She listened for _his_ voice for twenty or thirty minutes, but she couldn't hear him.

With a small gasp her emerald green eyes shot open in shock as she slowly stood up from her bed and glanced up. Despite the ceiling being in the way, she could see the sky above the house.

Lightning flashed from her bedroom window, which was located right beside her bed. It flashed for a second time before the sounds of rain splattered against the glass. Her eyes stared out the window, scanning the seemingly endless distance of her house, and the slums surrounding it.

A question left her lips as she whispered, "Are you still out there?" No answer came of course. So she looked out the window and watched as the rain poured down.

This was impossible, especially with the plate located right above her house and slums. No matter how hard she focused, she couldn't get a read on him at all. What was The Planet trying to tell her?

Was he still alive?

 _'Please let him be alive.'_

0========================================================0

 _| Virtus Arete |_

0========================================================0

Rain poured everywhere, the thousands Shin-Ra troops helmets laid all over the muddy ground. A pair of SOLDIER boots trudged through the wet ground, leaving muddy prints on the ground, as an odd sight filled the area. Two SOLDIERs, one with blond spiky hair, and one with black pulled back spiky hair and several strands of hair all molded into a single loose bang on front right side of his face.

"Z-Zack..." The blonde one spoke slowly; his motor skills still weak, as he walked several feet in front him and half stumbled as he walked forward, shouldering his fallen friend as they slowly left the area.

 _Midgar… Midgar…_ The name of the city echoed through his head like a mantra. He didn't know what would be waiting for them there, but it was important to Zack and that was more than enough reason for him. Cloud felt his vision spinning around him due to the pain he was experiencing. His eyes turned downward to his friend that was in his arms. He heard Zack talking weakly in his sleep. "Aerith…"

There was word again. Cloud slowly stopped in his tracks as he slowly turned to look toward his semi-conscious friend as a moment of comprehension stirred in his mind as the effects of Mako poisoning slowly started to subside. Zack was shot down by thousands of Shin-Ra Infantrymen. Just to save him, and he was still breathing.

Now it was Cloud's turn to save him, and in order for him to do that he had to go to Midgar. He mustered whatever energy and strength he had left inside him and proceeded to drag his friend down from the cliffs to the wet wasteland down below. Unaware or perhaps he didn't register how slippery the mud actually was as he continued to head further down, till he lost footing and slid down against the slope. Not even a quarter down, the pair came to a sudden stop when Zack, in a moment of temporary conscious pulled The Buster Sword and plunged it down to ground, giving Cloud the chance to collect himself and stand up straight. His blond haired friend slowly turned toward him and said, "Zack?"

His friend had slipped back to an unconscious state, but was still alive… for now. Cloud felt a stronger sense of urgency, so he took a step forward and was pulled to a halt. He turned to look back and saw Zack was hanging off his shoulder with his hand still firmly clasped to the sword's handle.

He didn't want to let it go, and Cloud couldn't understand it? What was the importance of that sword? Suddenly Zack let out a soft wince as he slowly regained consciousness and asked, "You… alright?"

Cloud replied with a confused tone, "Yeah, but are you…?" And watched as Zack gave one of his infamous grins before he spoke and said, "Hey Cloud, we had a pretty good run right?" Zack's words confused him; they sounded so _final_. He looked over at his injured companion and saw the multitudes of wounds on him from both sides of his chest to his head and the blood that was still pouring down from the openings, and how they blended against the mud and rain.

"Aerith." Cloud suddenly blurted out, though he'd meant it as a question rather than a statement. Something clicked in Zack when he heard the word, and he heard him uttering the word under his breath before taking a large inhale.

Zack then forced himself stand on his own two feet as his grip on the Buster Sword tightened as he slowly started to lift it out of the earth, while still leaning on to Cloud for support before he spoke and said, "Come on… we'll make it…"

0========================================================0

 _| Virtus Arete |_

0========================================================0

Three hours later, the Turks had made it to the last spot where they were seen and saw the carnage. Tseng knelt down and looked at the muddy footprints before he looked up toward the direction they were headed and said, "They've headed to Midgar."

Soon Cissnei, a young female Turk with wavy reddish shoulder length hair and brown eyes walked over and stood behind him before she asked, "How long ago?" Tseng slowly stood up and looked toward the distance where more footprints were spotted. "Judging from the amount and the distance from here to down below and over, I'd say some two hours before we'd arrived."

Cissnei crossed her arms over her chest and said in half defeat and relief, "Looks like they beat us to it." Till Tseng informed her, "They didn't go unscathed. Look." He pointed toward the small hints of blood mixed with the mud. Her eyes widened for a split second before she walked over where her superior had pointed. Her brown eyes slowly trailed toward the streaks of blood and saw that it continued on down the cliff side.

Tseng quickly stood up and whispered to himself, "They're still out there." He quickly turned to his fellow Turk and told her, "Cissnei, let's go." She turned around and said, "What if they're—"

He cut her off and said, "We still have our orders. They're wanted dead or _alive._ "

She paused for a moment and then looked over toward him, "And… _if_ we lost them, sir? What'll happen then?" Tseng looked over toward her for a moment and saw the look in her eyes.

 _Losing the subjects_ would be a way out, at the same time they _tried_ everything they could to apprehend them. Cissnei continued and said, "After all, if the Infantrymen weren't so impatient and disobeyed _their_ orders. The Subjects would've been in custody by now."

"You're right." Tseng replied before he turned to where Rude and Reno stood and gave them the order, "Mission failed, return to Headquarters immediately. We'll join you shortly." Rude gave a nod and said, "Sir." While Reno simply put one hand in his pocket and gave Tseng a casual wave. Affirming their order before they returned to their helicopter and took off back to The Shin-Ra Electric Power Company. Tseng looked up and made sure they had flown far enough before he said, "I'll add that to my report."

He pulled out his phone and added that to his notes before he flipped his phone close and placed it in his pocket as Cissnei walked toward him and said still her arms crossed over her chest, "I guess there's only one thing we can do. We did just 'fail' our mission after all."

Tseng quickly turned toward the helicopter and said, "Let's go find them." A small smile came to her lips before she turned around and followed him back to the chopper.

The helicopter was still, the latch clicked, the propellers slowly started to spin and finally the aircraft started to gently lift off the ground. Within minutes they had taken off and continued on with their search.

Cissnei worked the controls as the co-pilot as she flipped the switches to check the altitude and keep the helicopter steady; as she was reaching for joystick she caught a glimpse of a container full of letters. Her eyes stared at curiously till she noticed all them were addressed to Zack Fair.

 _'These must've been from Aerith.'_ She thought, as she was amazed and saddened by the large amount of envelopes inside the container. Those were a sign of desperation, worry and possibly heartbreak.

Cissnei's mind wandered for a moment and a thought came to her mind, was this why Tseng was desperate to find him too? Was he doing it for Aerith's sake?

"Cissnei, keep your eyes forward." He ordered, snapping her out of her daydream. She turned, apologized for her daze and kept her eyes forward toward the sky, while Tseng looked down below. Cissnei's outstretched arm was seen near him, holding a pair of binoculars in her hand, "Use these sir."

Tseng thanked her, took the binoculars, and looked down below. The two continued on for a few minutes, and then Tseng shouted, "There! Cissnei keep going we'll stop just a few feet in front of them."

Cissnei nodded, "Right." Before she set the coordinates Tseng told her, "Don't. Just land where I tell you." She turned to him perplexed at first, but orders were orders.

Tseng gave her the directions and then pinpointed where exactly she was supposed to land. Finally he gave her the order to descend, and down they went exactly ten feet in front of the wandering escapees.

0========================================================0

 _| Virtus Arete |_

0========================================================0

Cloud and Zack stopped the moment they spotted the Shin-Ra Helicopter flying overhead. His instincts were telling to reach for his sword, while at the same time he could feel his body slowly shutting down on him.

They were so close.

 _They were so close!_

Way too close for them to give up now. Zack took several deep breaths as he forced himself to stand upright before he turned to his friend, "Cloud go!"

Cloud then protested and said, "I can help." Zack glanced at him for a second before he turned back toward the two Turks walking over toward them, and waited for them to pull their weapons.

Cloud instantly moved between Zack and the Turks. His vision was still weak, but only one thought came to him, ' _Zack!_ ' He held his fists up, ready to fight them off with the only weapon he had, his fists.

They didn't, instead they continued on walking over toward them calmly. The male held up his hands to show he wasn't pulling out a weapon. He had to prove to them that they weren't a threat. They got closer and Zack caught a glimpse of something tucked between Tseng's left arm. Tseng carefully held up the item under his arm. It was a container filled with letters. The closer they came, the more he could see and he saw all the names on the front of the envelope. Tseng said one word, "Aerith."

Zack managed through his delirious state to recognize the handwriting after seeing the word that Tseng had mouthed.

It was _her_.

These were the eighty-eight out of the eighty-nine letters she had sent to him during the four years since their imprisonment. An imprisonment he had very little recollection of. Zack glanced over at Cloud and weakly nodded, signaling that these two weren't their enemies. After Cloud saw this, he slowly lowered his fists and allowed them to approach.

He looked forward again and saw the two, whom he now recognized as Tseng and Cissnei running to him _sideways_ on the _vertical ground_ beneath them underneath a vertical sky _._ Suddenly he felt a pair of hands turn him over to lie on his back where he saw the horizontal sky above him and he was met with Cloud's worried face and watched his mouth moved but he couldn't hear his voice.

Soon Tseng and Cissnei were standing behind him, and Tseng quickly went to his left and knelt down. A few seconds later he felt an arm lift his back, so he would sit up. Cissnei was looking at the person behind him and nodded her head before she quickly got up, turned and ran all the way back to where she came from. Then that same arm holding him up slowly started to lie him back down and Tseng came to view and Zack saw that his mouth was moving too, but just like Cloud and Cissnei, he couldn't hear a single word he was saying.

Cissnei came running back carrying Materia in her hand, she handed it to him. Tseng quickly used the Materia to heal him from the minor injuries, but not much more.

Then he heard Tseng's muffled voice as he tried toward Cloud and Cissnei _"We need to get him to a hospital."_ Zack watched as his sight started blurring in and out as the two Turks started talking among themselves, with a slow recovering Cloud listening helplessly for a few minutes. Tseng stood up without warning and said something to Cloud. His blond spiky haired nodded and despite his ongoing recovery from Mako Poisoning, managed to get up and walk behind him with Cissnei following behind.

Tseng was in front of him now, just by his boots. He counted and Zack suddenly felt them lift him off the ground, and his head being supported by Cloud's or Cissnei's or _both_ their shoulders while they carried him at the same time.

They continued carrying for ten minutes till they made it toward the helicopter. Tseng called somebody over and he felt a sudden change of weight from behind him. He saw Cissnei supporting his booted feet now while Tseng opened the latch and slid the helicopter down. Soon they were approaching the helicopter. He panicked and looked up only to see Cloud looking down at him reassuringly.

"It's okay." He said, again his voice sounded slightly muffled in Zack's ears. Then he added, "They're friends."

Cissnei stood by the edge of the helicopter door and pulled Zack's legs in first before Cloud managed the rest and laid him down by the helicopter floor. Tseng walked over toward the door and slid it shut before walking over toward the cockpit. Cissnei got up and walked over toward the back part of the helicopter. Cloud sat down beside him, his movements still slightly slow from the Mako, but hey, at least he was _moving_.

The helicopter then started to shake and the sound of the spinning propeller could be heard from outside as Cissnei came to his view carrying a first-aid kit. She knelt down on both her knees beside him and opened the kit before she started administering and trying to talk to him at the same time.

He could see her lips moving but there was no sound, she could see the desperation in her face as her lip movements became exaggerated and wide as she got closer toward him.

At last he could make out the words, "Hold on!" and "Aerith" and "Waiting." His mind trying coding the words together to make some comprehensible sense of what she was trying to say? But nothing registered, in fact his head felt heavy and all he waited to do was sleep. _Or his brain was falling asleep_ like it usually did when he had no stimulation to burn his energy out.

"What energy?" He muttered.

"That's it!" Cissnei shouted, "Keep talking!"

Zack's eyes shifted as he looked around the helicopter and at them, as he let out a very soft, "Huh…?" He tried to move his head to one side for a second when his neck muscles cave in from the weakness and his head flopped to one side and stayed that way till Cissnei or Cloud helped position his neck upright.

He suddenly heard indistinct shouting in front of him, followed by Cissnei as she tried talking to him, her voice muffled again for some strange reason? He couldn't figure out why?

 _"Aerith!"_ Cissnei shouted before relief washed over her, seeing that name caught his attention. At long last she'd uttered the words he'd wanted to hear for so long,

 _"We're taking you to see her Zack. You'll see her again."_ He turned to Cissnei, confused for a moment. Who was she talking about? Then she spoke again and told him firmly, "We're taking you to see her Zack. You'll see _her_ again." Those were the last words he'd heard before everything started fading to black.

 _Was she talking about Aerith?_


End file.
